Ostrich politics

By Eoin Clarke

Ostrich politics is rife in some sections of UK political thinking. In essence burying one’s head in the sand and hoping the political reality was not so is a common feature of some thinking within Labour. It goes like this “Labour cuts would have been much less than Osborne’s, Labour would never have raised tuition fees or VAT, and Labour would never have dreamed of Public Service Reform such as that supported by the Liberal Democrats”. Alternatively to pluck one’s head out of the sand, you might wish to say that “you cannot be confident that the things you hate this coalition for, would not have been attempted by some elements within your own party”. We in GEER call this the Neo-Liberal consensus.

Marion Kozak, the mother of Ed Miliband, is correct to view the work women carried out in the WW1 munition factories as a lost opportunity for gender equality. It was a success of New Labour to introduce a minimum wage but today our minimum wage lags many of our European competitors. There are still 250,000 people, mostly women, working for lower than the minimum wage.

Today women in the South East of England (where Labour would like to win seats), earning on average £7-8k less than men a year. It is the private sector in particular that disadvantages them – where women can expect to earn on average 27% less than men. In contrast, the public sector has been a friend to women, equipping offices with modern work practices and sensible approach to childcare. But too often there is a lack of wage transparency, and clarity in promotion procedures, and in both cases this particularly affects women.

Domestic sexual abuse permeates all social grades and overwhelmingly affects women. Often a crisis of masculinity through unemployment or low disposable income can lead to alcoholism, depression and violence in the household.

There is a poverty of aspiration in the ex coal mining villages of Selby, Wear Valley, Easington and beyond. With worklessness levels of up to 25%, there is a crisis of masculinity among young men who grow up in households were no one works. To commute to Newcastle or Leeds would necessitate these people spending up to a quarter of their income on transport. Work does not pay. In this sense the stigmatisation of vocational training is unhelpful. Some people aspire to ordinary industrial jobs in their own communities. State funded technical colleges in these communities could reconnect them to mainstream British Society.

The 500% increase in personal insolvency in these areas and the 50% increase in home repossessions simply to keep pace with the unethical concepts attached to ‘middle England’ politics is an aspect of New Labour’s time in office that saddens me. Subsidised transport, targeted regeneration and positive language about the value of an industrial base are in urgent need. These can build upon New Labour’s targeted Tax credits which undoubtedly aided millions. Ed Miliband has recognised that the language of ‘aspirationalism’ had a disconnect with the concept of equality that ‘fuelled’ consumer debt. We in GEER have every faith that a future Labour government will not make the same unethical mistakes.

We are not all middle class now and we are not all okay with the filthy rich. In fact 65% of UK households have an income after tax of £25K or less. These homes with 1.3 workers per household are bewildered by talk of affluence. For them life is a struggle between housing, transport and childcare costs.

In these three policy areas Labour under Ed Miliband has already showed signs that they get it.

It is not enough that social housing is only available to D/E social grades. For a C2 family to pay private rent which averages £8300 per year and then be expected to meet rising fuel costs is unethical. This particularly affects women who make up the bulk of the private rental market.

Building a sustainable economy that is less harmful on the environment is a key aspect of GEER. This means that capitalism which has breached the trust of the nation needs a tighter leash. The private sector should be allowed to flourish but there is nothing stopping the state from creating advantageous conditions for mutuals & co-operatives to compete with big business. It is also the state’s duty to have a more involved role in curbing excess profit. An increasing portion of consumer spending, particularly young people goes towards telecoms. Tackling the machismo of the city of London and their unscrupulous risk taking should be a keyfeature of a new Labour government.

To sum up, women deserted Labour, C2 voters abandoned Labour, and so did private renters. Men, the wealthier and homeowners actually remained remarkably loyal to Labour in its darkest hour. 80% of the voters Labour lost were lost before Gordon Brown came to lead the party. In the more than a dozen polls before Tony Blair left office the party averaged 31% of the GB [not UK] vote. In 2010, Labour achieved 30% of the GB vote. Disciples of Blairism have a crucial part to play in Labour’s future but henceforth they are equal team members as we all seek to unite behind Ed Miliband. There are many other aspects of GEER’s multi-faceted approach to contributing to a regeneration of Labour and our team would be happy to answer any concerns or questions you may have.

In the meantime, let us congratulate Ed Miliband for a successful spell of retracing the disconnect between policy and principle that occurred under many aspects of New Labour. It is time for us all to work together to reconnect principles to policy making. Honesty, hard work, intellectual thinking & unity can remove the Tories from power in 2015.

A longer version of this post appeared at The Green Benches.